A idea about geothermal heating & cooling

When I was thinking about heating & cooling options, I allowed my mind to wonder a little bit and came up with a some what crazy or may be laughable idea. What if I dig a well in the ground, pump up underground water and pour it over the outdoor unit of a heat pump. It's sort of like converting an air source heat pump into an open loop ground source one.

I'm think that this won't work, since nobody is doing this. But I'm kind of curious why it doesn't. May be low efficiency of heat exchange?

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Right after I post this, I realized a serious problem with this design. Without any insulation and covering, the underground water will quickly cool down though heat exchange with environmental and evaporation. I guess that kills the efficiency.

Actually, I think you may not be able to pump that much groundwater from a well. Because if else, I cannot see why people don't use groundwater on their lawn. Or is it simply because it's to expensive to dig a well and run the pump?

Quote:

Originally Posted by beenthere

How muddy of a yard do you want?

Does your crawlspace/basement eve get water in it, after several days of rain?

It probably will after the ground is soaked by the well water.

The water will probably have a fairly good mineral content. And will leave corrosion build up on the unit. And then insulate the coil from the water.

Actually, I think you may not be able to pump that much groundwater from a well. Because if else, I cannot see why people don't use groundwater on their lawn. Or is it simply because it's to expensive to dig a well and run the pump?

Is it possible at all to convert a air source heat pump to an open loop ground source one? I mean remodeling the outdoor unit so that instead groundwater is used to cooling/heating the coil instead of air?